


In A Flash

by PotterheadAvengerDemigod



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: DEAL WITH IT, Gen, Identity Reveal, Post-Season/Series 01, Secret Identity, Spoilers for Season 1, because apparently everything I write has ID reveal, but such is expected, it's comics/comic based, metahumans are real, of course it has a really annoying ending, oh well, okay I'm gonna stop tagging now, which by the way had a really annoying ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-22
Updated: 2015-09-22
Packaged: 2018-04-22 21:47:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4851626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PotterheadAvengerDemigod/pseuds/PotterheadAvengerDemigod
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>My name is Barry Allen, and I am The Flash.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In A Flash

**Author's Note:**

> Yay first fic on AO3 that isn't Avengers hahahaha...

_To understand what I'm about to tell you, you need to do something first, you need to believe in the impossible. Can you do that? Good. Because all of us, we've forgotten what miracles look like. Maybe because they haven't made much of an appearance lately. Our lives have become ordinary. But there is someone out there who is truly extraordinary. I don't know where you came from. I don't know your name. But I have seen you do the impossible to protect the city I love. So for those of us who believe in you and what you're doing, I just want to say thank you._

Barry's lip quirks slightly as he rereads the blog post from so long ago, the post that had directly preceded the one that had given him his name.

Iris looks over his shoulder at his phone screen, rolling her eyes when she registers what he's looking at, sighing when he turns his crooked grin on her.

"You're welcome," Barry tells her, teasing smile never leaving his face.

Iris's blog, although now mostly dormant, had spiked in followers overnight, after the black hole that threatened to destroy and ingest Central City for breakfast. Of course, it was mostly due to the fact that that particular event was the most public the Flash had ever been, and was proceeded by Cisco's and Caitlin's decision to announce the existence of metahumans to the public.

The two, with help from both Barry and Iris (whose journalistic skills and attachment to CCPN were definitely a big help), had supposedly given Iris an interview, breaking down the concept of the particle accelerator explosion and the subsequent genetic and chromosomal mutations. They'd also vaguely stated that Dr. Wells had somehow passed, the four collaborating to make it seem like he'd died because of the black hole. (Well, his death _caused_ the black hole, not the other way around. But no one was going to accept the truth, and neither was the truth necessary, so the half-lie that S.T.A.R. Labs was feeding everyone was appropriate enough.)

Of course, the existence of super-powered humans in the world threw everyone in for a loop, and though the CCPD had technically been sort of working with the Flash, suspicions were rampant, as was to be expected.

That would explain why what happened the next day actually happened.

* * *

"Allen!"

Barry spun a full one-eighty at the call, looking in the direction the sound came from, meeting Captain Singh's gaze from where the man had stuck his head out his office door and yelled.

The speedster sighed at being interrupted in his conversation-slash-verbal-spar with Joe, making his way over to the Captain's office and slipping through the half-open doorway.

"What is it, sir?"

"Allen," Singh starts, looking uncharacteristically hesitant. "I wanted to know, with the news that S.T.A.R. Labs released a few days back, the one about the, um, super-powered humans, I just wanted to know if you were affected? If I recall, you were struck by lightning on the night of the particle accelerator explosion, weren't you? And S.T.A.R. Labs says that the, um, the superhumans were caused by the explosion, right?"

Barry pales ever so slightly, worrying at his bottom lip and trying to figure out the best way to lie to his Captain without seeming like he was lying.

He had never been very good at lying.

In the end, the CSI settles for shaking his head and simply denying the statement. Nothing like the tried and true, right?

"Alle- _Barry_ , it's okay if you are one of those superhumans, the force won't kick you out, if that's what you're worried about. But I just ask that you tell us, so we can decide if we should put you out in the field. It'd be really useful to have someone that can actually fight these guys."

Barry pales even further, and he’s lucky that his complexion is already so pale, or else Captain Singh would definitely have called him out on it by now. “N-No, sir, really, I-”

That’s when multiple gunshots ring out from the other side of the office door.

Captain Singh grabs his gun from its holster reflexively, gaze immediately turning to the glass separating the outer part of the precinct from his office.

As it turns out, two of the criminals that a couple officers had been escorting had broken free and grabbed the guns off of said officers, knocking the two out and aiming at the other officers in the precinct.

Luckily, there were precious few officers at the precinct at this time of day.

But that didn’t excuse the fact that Joe was still in the room. And one of the people being threatened.

The thing Barry couldn’t figure out was why the two criminals didn’t just take the two unconscious officers as human shields or hostages and escape, instead of threatening a room of police. Even if majority of the force wasn’t here, there were still more than enough to outnumber the two criminals.

That's when Barry notices that the two crooks, while they may still be threatening the entire police precinct, they're _frightened_.

Their hands are shaking slightly, faces white with fear, but they don’t put down their guns.

Naturally, the few officers in the room have already pulled out their own guns, taking aim as well.

“Drop your weapons!”

As expected, the two don’t drop their weapons, but Barry can see them quaking in their boots, the trembling getting worse by the second.

_What is going on?_

"Do as we say or we'll shoot!" One of them calls, trying to sound fearless, which might have worked if not for the fact that his voice had cracked halfway through the sentence.

That's, of course, when things get complicated.

A shot rings out in the tense silence of the precinct, but save for a new dent in the wall, nothing much is really affected.

Behind the two criminals, a man steps out into the open from a shadowy corner, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

He stands right behind the two men, rolling his eyes.

"You two," he starts. "Are hopeless. I free you guys so that you can help me get my revenge on the police, but you somehow screw up even a simple job like that. Go to hell."

He scowls when the two men stare at him, shaking even more violently and blanching when he meets their gazes.

Then the shadowy man moves unexpectedly, hitting the criminal nearest to him in the chest with a single blow, and the criminal collapses, blood frothing in his mouth and spilling down his cheeks, eyes rolling up into his head as he hits the ground with a thud, dead before he even touches the floor.

The police, needless to say, panic. So does the other criminal, who stares, gaping, at his fallen partner before his eyes widen and he turns tail and runs, screaming.

"Ah," the killer shrugs, eyes boring into the man's retreating back. "Let him go. I've already proven my point."

He pulls the gun from the dead man's hand, grip loose in death, and then takes up his place aiming at the police.

And this time, the gunman's hands are not shaking in the least.

Barry knows immediately that if this guy, this one-hit killer, fires the gun, it will not miss.

And Joe, whose seat is pretty central, is the target of choice.

The man sneers at said police officer, lowering the gun. “I could kill you with just a single hit. I can see where you’re weak, you know. All your weak spots, gaps in your defense, chinks in your armour. I can see them all. You are, all of you, pathetic weaklings. Beneath me!”

Barry inhales deeply, briefly shutting his eyes. Great. Another metahuman. This one with the apparent power to see everyone and anyone’s weak spots. Able to kill anyone with single hit.

The meta fires off a single bullet, aimed straight for Joe.

Barry reacts before he can even think.

He speeds ahead, snatching the bullet right out of the air, disintegrating the metal with a supersonic vibration.

He pauses momentarily in front of the villain du jour, still vibrating.

“Beneath you, huh? Would you really say that?” Barry’s voice comes out low and threatening (he’d been experimenting with what different levels of vibration to his vocal cords would do to his voice), and despite the levity of his words, his tone is utterly humourless.

The man throws out a few futile jabs, but Barry simply turns to the side and takes a step back, effectively dodging every single one of them.

“Stop moving!” The man growls, striking out blindly when it becomes clear that he’s not going to land a hit on the speedster.

“Nope,” Barry taunts, a blur of yellow lightning around the precinct. “Can’t catch me.”

The man growls in frustration, his attacks becoming ever clumsier with rage.

“Also, I’m actually trying to figure out what you were doing to get powers like that. Did you dunk yourself in a vat of carrot juice or something? They say vitamin A’s good for your eyes.”

“Shut up!” The man screams, losing all control and flailing his arms in all directions before Barry darts in and knocks him out with a punch to the head. He then proceeds to tie the guy up and handcuff him to the wall, temporarily taking care of him.

He’ll have to drop Cisco and Caitlin a call later on, tell them that the first meta for the new and improved Pipeline has been caught, but first he has to deal with the precinct.

Barry’s just glad that it’d been lunch hour and most of the officers weren’t actually in the precinct, seeing as it may have more than compromised the meaning of the term ‘secret identity’ if the entire CCPD knew.

“So, Allen,” Captain Singh starts. “You are one of those super-powered humans, then.”

Barry cringes. ‘Super-powered human’ is such a mouthful, and honestly, he thinks it sounds a tad arrogant.

“Metahumans, sir. That’s the term for us.”

Singh arches an eyebrow, but doesn’t comment. Instead, he goes right on to his next question. “Superspeed? That’s your power, I assume.”

At Barry’s reluctant nod, the Captain cocks his head to the side. “How many people are there with superspeed, anyway? You have the Flash, like we all know, and there’ve been sightings of another speedster a few times, a man in yellow? And now you, Allen.”

Barry chews on his lower lip, considering if he should tell them that _he’s_ the Flash. His gaze darts to Joe, and his father figure shrugs, expression telling Barry that it’s his choice.

Well, he guesses there’s little harm in it now, seeing that they already know he has superspeed, and the officers aren’t dumb. They’d piece it together one day, and it was probably better if they found out because he told them, not because they figured it out themselves.

Barry hesitates momentarily, the eyes of everyone in the precinct on him. He takes another deep breath.

"As far as I know, there's only ever been two of us. Well, one now, seeing as the man in yellow's dead. He was evil, anyway."

"Allen, you do realise that the Captain named three people, right?" Officer Gibbons questions.

Barry allows a smirk to grow on his face.

"Hey, Joe, do you mind going up to my lab and grabbing the duffel in my locker?"

Joe raises both eyebrows. "You sure about this, Bear?"

At Barry's nod, Joe leaves the office, and Barry's expression turns serious. "What I am about to tell you now must be kept the utmost secret. Tell no one. If you do, if someone finds out that you know, you will be in danger. Over the course of the past year, I've already made many, many enemies, and most of them would kill you without blinking an eye. Got it?"

The officers exchange wary looks, frowning before scrutinising Barry. This is pretty much the only time they've seen the easy-going CSI so serious, bordering on fierce.

They agree.

Joe returns a few minutes later, lugging Barry's duffel behind him and handing it over to the speedster.

"Sure 'bout this? Last chance to back out, Bear."

Barry hesitates, and Joe knows that ultimately, he will decide yes, but he also knows that Barry's been very private about his identity, and telling so many officers at once has to have made his son uneasy.

But then Barry's resolve solidifies and he nods once, almost as if convincing himself, and pulls the duffel bag towards him, unzipping it and staring inside for a moment, gathering his courage.

The officers see a flash of red inside Barry’s duffel when he pulls open the bag, the CSI glancing up and meeting their gazes. “Okay, listen, this is really serious, alright? I meant what I said earlier, you cannot tell anyone about this.”

The gravity in his tone has all the officers nodding in agreement. Despite Barry’s kind-of-klutzy, always-late character (which, now that they know he has superspeed, makes absolutely no sense), he’d always been quite well-liked by majority of the precinct, most of whom found him endearing or admired him for his dedication to the job.

Joe and Barry exchange cautious glances once more and Barry shuts his eyes briefly, composes himself. He pulls out the comm. link first, holding down the button and connecting to Caitlin and Cisco.

“Guys, I need a pickup in about fifteen, somewhere near the precinct. New meta. Time to test out the Pipeline 2.0 I guess.”

He receives an affirmative from Cisco and a worried, “You told the precinct who you are, didn’t you?” from Caitlin, and when he confirms the statement, all he gets is a soft sigh and a “Be careful,” from both of them.

Barry then leans back down and attaches the comm. link back to the cowl of the suit, before taking another deep breath and blurring into a vortex of yellow lightning as he dons the suit.

When he finally stills, the Flash stands in front of the precinct, and the officers gape. Barry simply quirks a lip at their faces and pulls the cowl down.

“Hey, guys.”

_Today, I was saved by the impossible. A mystery man. The fastest man alive. Then a friend gave me an idea for a new name, and something tells me it’s gonna catch on._

My name is Barry Allen, and I am the fastest man alive.

I am The Flash.


End file.
